Early returns for 2012 production trickling in, but many want more frequent reports

6:36 AM,
Apr. 22, 2013

Written by

Russ Zimmer
CentralOhio.com

Berman, an energy consultant in Houston, has been a dissenting voice on the viability of recently discovered oil and gas fields in Louisiana, Texas and Pennsylvania. He might end up a doubter of the economics of Ohio's Utica Shale, as well, but right now, he said, it's impossible to take a side.

"One of the problems with the Utica Shale play is that nobody - nobody - has the ability to determine how long these wells are going to last," Berman said, before noting the companies themselves might keep this information private. ...